The Prefect of
Meurthe-et-Moselle wants to kill a unique wolf that is present in the
west of the Vosges, on the grounds that this wolf has "erratic
and abnormal behaviour". This measure is absurd and
counterproductive.
Until proven otherwise, the behaviour of this wolf is normal. He is erratic because he is isolated. It is a biological characteristic of the species: some individuals leave their group (settled in a territory) and can travel very great distances while being erratic, until finding another wolf of the opposite sex to settle with and to reproduce on a new territory.
This wolf attacks sheep because they are easier to capture than stags or deer (especially for an isolated wolf) and because on the plains of Vosges, sheep are placed in meadows where the fences are not at all designed to prevent the intrusion of wolves (or dogs).
The species Lupus has been back for at least 25 years in France. Wolves bred back in 2013 in the Vosges mountains (near the plains of Vosges). Since then, several isolated wolves have already been identified on the plains of the Vosges. Farmers have had time to anticipate their arrival.
The government’s objective in killing this lone wolf is political and short-sighted: to make farmers believe that the problem will be solved by shooting. This is counterproductive if the breeders do not protect their herds, because other wolves will eventually come to Lorraine from the Alpine arc or from Germany, by way of the natural phenomenon of recolonization. If the herds are not protected, there will therefore be new predations, all the more difficult to prevent since we cannot predict the dates or the locations.
Lorraine is part
of the natural range for the wolf species and is where it once
existed. France must allow wolves to live there. It is even a
European commitment of our country. Our associations will sue any
decision to shoot the wolf of the plains of the Vosges.
The associations CAP Loup
